LUNACIONES, PASOS CENITALES Y LATITUD EN MESOAMÉRICA
LUNATIONS, ZENITH PASSAGES AND LATITUDE IN MESOAMÉRICA

Author(s): Rubén Bernardo Morante López
Subject(s): Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Chichén Itzá; Tajin; underground observatories; calendrical events; history of geography
Summary/Abstract: Solar zenith passages only occur in tropical latitudes. The zenithal passages days were helpful as calendrical references since they precede or coincide with the summer solstice day near the tropics. In lower latitudes, they occur on two equidistant dates, before and after the solstice day. They may be used to mark climatic and agricultural seasons, predicting the arrival of the rains. However, they could have also constituted a geographical reference denoting zenithal passages on different days according to the latitude. The present paper discusses the evidence originating from two emblematic sites: Chichén Itzá and Tajin. At both sites were built underground observatories to mark the solar passage through the site’s meridian and to calculate the exact date of the zenith passage. Latitude in both sites indicates that the zenith passages occur 29 and 30 days before and after June solstice, suggesting the purposeful selection of that latitude to keep the same lunar phase moon on three key events: zenith passages and summer Solstice.

• Details
• Contents